After the recent re-inauguration of the iconic Jaffa Gate at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City as part of the Jerusalem City Walls Conservation and Rehabilitation Project, now comes the turn of Herod’s Gate, which leads into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City through the northern city walls. In a re-inauguration ceremony held yesterday, Herod’s Gate (known in Hebrew and Arabic as the Flowers Gate) and the sections of the walls adjacent to it were once again exposed to the public after a four month conservation project.
The conservation and rehabilitation measures to the gate were preceded by very strict preparations that included a meticulous conservation and historical survey and documentation of the gate. During the course of the conservation work, the Israel Antiquities Authority Conservation Department had to contend with the complicated challenge of working in a teeming urban and commercial environment. The gate’s facades and interior received extensive treatment that included a thorough cleaning, treating the stones and decorations that have been subjected to years of weathering and removing hazards that stemmed from vegetation taking root and vandalism, as well as moisture penetrating into the fabric of the city wall. Among other actions that were taken, all of the electrical and water infrastructures that “adorned” the gate’s facades were removed and properly reinstalled so as not to detract from the appearance of the gate.
The Old City walls were built in the sixteenth century by the sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Within the framework of that project, Herod’s Gate was first inaugurated in the year 1539 CE. The gate was constructed originally as a postern gate which only allowed people and unharnessed animals to enter the city. At the end of the nineteenth century an opening was breached in the gate’s northern façade which allowed passage directly into the city. Remains of the sentry post that protected the original entrance can still be seen in the gate’s eastern façade.